Bone marrow measurements for mechanically recovered products from machines that press bones

Meat from Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) systems is being used in increasing amounts in meat products, but authenticity issues resulting from the incidental inclusion of bone marrow when meat is pressed from the bones have arisen. Unfortunately, no widely accepted method for determining amount of marrow in meat from AMR systems is available. Past attempts to detect and quantify the amount of marrow in mechanically recovered products is the focus of this review. Methods for quantifying red marrow include those based on the heme pigments and on iron contained in these pigments. An immunological procedure in which antibodies are raised to bone marrow proteins and the pH method can also be used as qualitative and quantitative tests, respectively, for red marrow presence. Fatty marrow, associated with the term marrow by the public, is found in the medullary cavity of the shaft of long bones. These bones are not recommended for use in meat recovery systems, so methods for detection of fatty marrow are not addressed.